Menu Plan Monday

It was lovely to have the time with the boys on Friday - the days are going by too fast, and getting time alone with them is rare!

• Friday - Mom & boys night out dinner
• Saturday - kebabs, rice & yogurt/cucumber sauce
• Sunday - tacos
• Monday - pulled pork & coleslaw
• Tuesday - garlic noodles with beef & broccoli (carried over AGAIN, because I forgot to buy ground beef)
• Wednesday - leftover garlic noodles
• Thursday - any remaining leftovers
• Friday - baked chicken and pasta

What about you? What's on the menu this week?

Sunday things

 I was moderately productive yesterday, but somehow left the house cleaning for today. That's a common theme. If there is one thing I put off doing, it's definitely house cleaning! 

I did give a bunch of stuff away via Buy Nothing, list a few things we're not using on Facebook Marketplace, made protein balls, etc which wasn't on my list. I love decluttering. 

Here's what's on the list for today:

• Make dinner. We ended up with leftovers last night, so tonight I need to prep the beef/broccoli dish, and freeze the rest of the ground beef
• Call my parents
• Schedule for next week
• Boys - calculus tutor + pay tutor
• Work out
• Vacuum
• Dust
• Clean bathrooms
• Clean kitchen
• Laundry
• Pick up Buy Nothing item

I think that's it for me. What about you? What are you hoping to accomplish today?

Saturday Happenings

Unfortunately, there will be no workout classes for me today (or likely, for awhile) as my knee has been bothering me something fierce. I saw a doctor on Thursday, and need to go to PT, and get an MRI. Until the MRI, I need to take it easy. I can walk & do yoga, etc. I'm missing my harder workouts for sure! Those intense workouts are so good for my stress level, & I love the endorphins. I'm going to have to find other solutions.

It's a pretty quiet weekend (woohoo), so here's what we're up to today:

• Costco
• Take Nick to find a couple of birthday gifts (ski items)
• Laundry
• Clean the fridge
• Vacuum
• Dust
• Clean the bathrooms
• Clean the kitchen
• Start gathering tax documentation
• Take Nick to tennis volunteering
• Some sort of workout
• Make dinner (finally the beef & broccoli/noodle dish!)
• Go to CVS to use a reward before it expires
• Duolingo
• Plan for the week
• Menu plan

What about you? What are you up to today?

Frugal Friday

In non-frugal news, I had to bail on a scheduled workout at my gym due to a last minute true work emergency, which cost me $15. Work does reimburse me slightly for my gym membership, so I'm considering it a wash. 

Here's what we've been up to this week: 

Saving on things we buy

• Tracked down missing stay credit, for our ski trip over New Years. The points are quite valuable, so I didn't want to miss out. It took two emails & a live chat session, but got it resolved.
• We have been trying to eat more from the freezer, and are also adjusting our meal planning to have less waste (the teens are rarely both home for all dinners in a week). As a result, we were able to limit our grocery shopping to about 1/3 of our normal expense this week. 
• Used a gift card & a small reward at Panera to take Nick to lunch. I'm trying to do more one on one time with the boys, which is hard to come by these days!
• Combined a Rite Aid sale, rewards & an iBotta offer to earn $6 off a few things we needed. 
• I also went through & inventoried our gift cards again, as we've been trying to use them up. It's a good reminder of what we have & ensuring we using all of our resources. 

Earning money

• Listed a few unneeded items on eBay

Avoiding spending

• Picked up the Friday Freebie at the store, which was dairy free milk. I'm not super picky about what I put in my coffee, so it was nice to have a free option. Bonus, iBotta had an offer for the milk, so I earned $1.35 from iBotta, making this a money maker. 
• Found a handful of tomatoes & strawberries, still growing in our garden. Pretty crazy, given we've had cold temps, lots of rain & minimal sun. 

Eating what we have

• I've made Nick a few smoothies, using up ingredients from the fridge, pantry & freezer. Smoothies are great for hiding leftover items (chopped up apples that were about to go bad, for example)
• I froze leftover fajitas, before they were wasted. 
• Brought home leftovers from date night, and had them for brunch on Sunday.
• Sam has a friend who works at a bakery, and often brings home treats. We've been enjoying them!
• We used leftover naan bread, toasted with butter, as a side for spaghetti & meatballs. Non-traditional, but the teens weren't super picky.
• I forgot to pick up ground beef for one of the recipes this week, so I improvised by adding additional meatballs & sauce to the leftovers (replacing one dinner) & because I'd planned for leftovers of the missing recipe, I also subbed in gyozos & wings another night.
• Used up an acorn squash that I bought ages okay, and kept forgetting about.
• Made M a "football watching" appetizer tray, using things from around the fridge.

For others

• Gave away bags of things on Buy Nothing, and to a neighbor who runs an outreach for a local shelter. 

That's it from my side. What about you? Any wins to share?

Workout Wednesday

It was a mixed week for workouts, and I finally have a doctor's appointment tomorrow to talk about my knee. Something is not right. 

Workouts for the week:

• Monday - Orange Theory workout class
• Tuesday - no workout, as my knee has continued to bother me
• Wednesday - Orange Theory workout class
• Thursday - 50 minutes on the elliptical
• Friday - no workout, due to very last minute all day work drama
• Saturday - Orange Theory workout class
• Sunday - Orange Theory workout class

Highlights - The workouts I did get were high quality

Lowlights - my knee, missed workouts, & overall more snacking. M brought me a box of delicious Belgian chocolates, and I ate a couple at a time until they were gone. 

That's it from my side. How are you doing with your health & fitness?

Menu Plan Monday

 Here's what's on the menu at our house this week.

• Friday - spaghetti & meatballs + garlic bread
• Saturday - date night. Pizza for the kids
• Sunday - grilled chicken & rice
• Monday - garlic noodles with beef & broccoli (didn't get made last week)
• Tuesday - leftover spaghetti & meatballs
• Wednesday - leftover grilled chicken & rice
• Thursday - leftover garlic noodles with beef & broccoli
• Friday - I'm taking the boys out for a "mom/boys" dinner. Assuming they are both don't have plans, which is quite a risk. ;-) 

What about you? What's on your menu this week?

Sending love & good thoughts

There are several bloggers (& readers) struggling right now, with tragedy. Sending you all lots of love & good thoughts, as you process everything. No words are enough, but thinking of you all. 

Saturday Happenings

Yesterday was a long & not great work day, that involved a lot of drama. I didn't get a chance to work out, which always negatively impacts my stress level. I should have found time to at least meditate, but I didn't. 

I've not felt great this week (mild fever, and some stomach issues), but I feel like I'm finally starting to turn the corner. There's been a lot of sleeping!

Last night was a gorgeous night on the soccer field. Nick's team tied their opponent, and it was a fun game to watch. It was also incredibly chilly!

As for today, I feel really behind on life after my week. Here's what's on the to do list:

• Workout class
• Boys have calculus tutoring
• Laundry
• Wash sheets
• Plan for the week
• Shopping list
• Menu plan
• Costco
• Trader Joes & produce stand
• Date night with M (definitely the highlight of the weekend)

That's it for me. What about you? What are you hoping to accomplish this weekend? 

Frugal Friday

 It's been a very busy week, and we definitely had some wins. 

Saving on things we buy

• Our grocery store has not been running many gift card offers, but I noticed there was a great one this week. Picked up $300 of gift cards we will use, and earned $60 in grocery rewards.
• We buy red curry paste at the grocery store, and it is crazy expensive and never/rarely on sale. I found that it was 40% off on Amazon, and bought a large container. We use this for curry dishes, and I'm hoping this is about a 6 month supply. 
• I rarely find iBotta offers that we need, but I was able to find four things at Rite Aid that were on sale, on my list, and matched up with an offer, saving $9.50. I also used $1.79 of rewards that were expiring, and earned another $2 in future rewards. 
• Used the $2 in Rite Aid rewards to offset slightly the cost of a prescription, which is always nice. 
• I also found very inexpensive yogurt marked down (a 4 pack for $.80), which I bought for muffin making. 
• Used previous flight credits & a Southwest gift card to drop the price of flights for three by $700 for college tour, part 1. 
• Booked a rental car for the above college tour using Costco travel, saving about $40 over the next cheapest options. 

Earning money

• I prefer to use our credit card for all purchases, as we get cash back, and pay it off every month. However, some places charge a fee for using your card, so the cash back is not always worth it. I researched a couple of larger expenses (DMV & home insurance) to determine if there were fees, and/or if the fees were higher than the cash back. The insurance company charged nothing, making it an easy decision. The DMV did charge a processing fee, but it was less than our cash back. I would have done it up to the point of being an even exchange, as having all of our bills in one place is easier. There is another expense I researched, and the fee was more than double the cash back, so definitely won't be charging that on the card. 

Avoiding spending

• Picked up the Friday Freebie at the grocery store - a flavored sparkling water. I'll use it for a virtual "happy hour" I'm attending, as I'm trying to keep January as dry as possible. 
• Continued to provide additional details to my credit card company, for a double charge. (I bought movie tickets online for Sam & friends, and the first charge errored out. The second charge worked fine, and tickets were emailed me.) The movie theater, of course, wanted to charge me for both & it took two months for me to get my $56 back. Irritating, but worth it to provide additional detail each time the movie company came back with why they should be able to double charge me. 
• Saved the price of a night of a hotel (~$185) by using a free night award, for the college tour trip (part 1, I suppose). 

Eating what we have

• Made two large soups over the weekend, and froze it in lunch sized portions. I'm the only real lover of soup at our house, so I typically have it for lunches.
• Made a loaf of French bread, to go with my soup. 
• Ate leftover orange chicken & rice for two meals. 
• Made a double batch of blueberry muffins, using yogurt I picked up on clearance, and blueberries from the freezer.
• Went through the 20+ bananas in our freezer, and pureed them all. Made a double batch of banana muffins, and froze the rest of the puree, which is much more manageable to store in the freezer. 
• I went to lunch with a friend on Monday, and the portions at the Mediterranean place were huge. I easily had enough for leftovers on Tuesday as well. 

For others

• Donated to a local charity, helped out at the food bank & provided ongoing mentorship at work

What about you? Any wins to share?

Workout Wednesday

 

Workout for the week

• Monday - Orange Theory class
• Tuesday - 75 minutes of elliptical
• Wednesday - 50 minutes of elliptical
• Thursday - 1 hour of elliptical + 1.5 mile walk
• Friday - Orange Theory class
• Saturday - Orange Theory class skipped, as I was dealing with the flooding garage. I did get plenty of exercise, carrying buckets of water. 
• Sunday - Orange Theory class

Highlights - I did really well with tracking my calories, avoiding sweets & alcohol, & I lost 1.5 lbs. 

Lowlights - My knee has been bothering me a bit, so I ordered knee sleeves (like slide on braces) to help reduce pressure during my workouts. Fingers crossed.

How did you do with your health & fitness this week?

Long weekend productivity

I didn't get everything done on my long weekend to do list, but I did get quite a bit accomplished. We'll ignore the clearing of the drains, bucket brigade, clearing the garage, etc. Let's hope that was a one time thing, although we will definitely be keeping that drain cleared moving forward. 

I made the following, for food prep:

• Ham & lentil soup
• Rosemary & white bean soup
• French bread
• Two dozen blueberry muffins
• Two dozen banana muffins
• Pureed all of the bananas in the freezer, to create space, and get them ready for future muffins
• Prepped six pounds of chicken - 1/2 for chicken shawarma, 1/2 for chicken fajitas. I also chopped all of the veggies, and froze the remaining fajitas for a future meal. Same with the shawarma. We will have the rest of the fajitas & shawarma for dinners this week.

House cleaning:

• Washed all rugs
• Mopped
• Bathrooms
• Kitchen 
• Baseboards
• Vacuumed
• Laundry

Personal:

• Two workout classes (one was canceled due to the flooding)
• Virtual happy hour with my sister & BFF
• Got a massage
• Met another friend for coffee
• Watched a couple of shows & read

I also did a few other odds & ends (all of the grocery shopping), and while the weekend didn't turn out as I'd hoped due to the flooding, I'm happy with the stuff I got done.

What about you? What have you been up to lately? Have you had any productive days? 

Menu Plan Monday

 There is quite a bit of cooking planned for the week ahead, thanks to the long weekend & time to prep.

• Friday - orange chicken & rice 
• Saturday - rosemary white bean soup + homemade French bread
• Sunday - ham & split pea soup + bread
• Monday - chicken shawarma
• Tuesday - chicken fajitas
• Wednesday - garlic noodles with beef & broccoli
• Thursday - chicken shawarma 
• Friday - chicken fajitas

What about you? What's on your menu this week? 

Sunday Things

Yesterday wasn't quite the day I expected. I was getting started with some kitchen prep, when I went to the garage to our outside fridge. And, noticed all of the shoes on the garage floor were floating. Our garage had flooded. It was early & I was confused, so I foolishly opened the door, which let in a bunch more water. 

M & the boys left for skiing at 4:30, and somehow in three hours, the garage had flooded & our pool back patio had flooded. After several hours outside, I figured out what was happening (we had a large drain that was blocked, & looked like it hadn't been used in 10+ years). I dug that out by hand, scooped out buckets & buckets of water to the main drain on our street and got the garage drained. Then I moved on to the pool area, which was more difficult, as there wasn't an obvious way to fix it. It too involved carrying buckets of water to our drainage area, about 15 feet away. My back was killing me after all of this, so I was super grateful I'd planned to get a massage in the afternoon. 

The massage was incredible and relieved my pain, but I'm still having a terrible time sleeping at night due to back pain, & really need to go back to see the doctor to understand what my options are. 

I didn't get a chance to go to my workout class, but I did end up making the soup & homemade bread. I had the split pea & ham soup for dinner, & it was fabulous. I also signed up for a free month of Amazon Prime, and watched some shows. I have it on my calendar to cancel before it charges me for any future months. 

M & the boys had a rough time skiing, as Tahoe received a ton more snow, and visibility was very poor & many runs weren't open. Here's hoping today will be a better day, but it seems like it may be more of the same. They woke up to another foot of snow. 

Here's what I have planned for today:

• Workout class
• Costco
• Trader Joes
• Produce stand
• Make muffins
• Clean fridge
• Virtual happy hour with my sister & BFF
• At least one cleaning task

What about you? What's on your to do list for today?

Saturday Happenings

It's a super stormy day here - very, very rainy & windy. The boys are off for a ski trip to Tahoe, so fingers crossed all goes well there. I woke up briefly when they left at 4:30, but then managed to fall back to sleep an hour or so later.

I have a huge list of things I want to accomplish while they are gone. The list is too long to write down, but the rough categories are:

• Work out every day
• Organize a few sections of the house
• Prep meals for the week
• Make soups for the freezer (plus a loaf of bread)
• Make muffins
• Deep clean the house
• Run errands
• Do a couple of fun things (get a massage, virtual happy hour with friends)

Between all of that, it's easily enough to keep me busy through Monday. 

What about you? What are you up to this weekend? 

Frugal Friday

 Here's what we've been up to over the past week. The holidays are always expensive, and we try to use January to buckle down, where possible. 

Saving on things we buy

• We were able to find shoes for Sam that were $20 off. He only has one pair of daily shoes (not including soccer cleats), but his feet are growing quickly. Luckily, he's not picky, & chose a reasonably priced shoe, and it was also on sale.
• Returned a cart from the parking lot (this is something I try to do each time I go through the lot, and encourage the boys as well. ) & saw a receipt. Uploaded it to Fetch, & earned $.50. I also noticed it had an item with a Box Top code, so uploaded that as well, and earned $.10 for our local school, then recycled the receipt. 
• Combined a $5 reward, free shipping & a sale to get glove liners for skiing. Sam lost one of his liners at some point during our last trip. 

Earning money

• Sold ski pants on eBay, & listed a new item. 
• I received the first part of my annual bonus (largest chunk). I put money in the boys college accounts & maxed out my 401K for the year. The rest will go into savings for my job change. 

Avoiding spending

• Picked up the Friday freebie at the store, which was a sugar free Chobani yogurt. I'll likely add it to a muffin recipe, if one of the teens doesn't eat it first. 
• Picked up four free razors in sealed packages (3 of which are my preferred brand, & one for the boys) on Buy Nothing, and picked up a bag of chocolate marshmallow snacks (for Sam) from another neighbor
• Ate breakfast & lunch (3x) at work, and charged our car for free. We get free meals at work.

Eating what we have

• We brought some bread home from our ski trip, and froze most of it. The boys ate the rest for breakfast.
• I ate leftovers for "brunch" after my workout class. Random selections have included: mac & cheese, fried rice, chicken, & carrots/hummus. Not all at once. ;-) 
• Used up the last of the potatoes (from Thanksgiving mashed potatoes) in a chicken curry dish
• I defrosted a couple of grilled chicken sausages, & kept them in the fridge for easy lunch options (sliced over a salad). I also used up leftover salad dressings, & a bit of holiday cheeses, for a few different salad varieties this week. 
• Made protein bars for Sam, who requested them as a pre-gym snack
• We keep hamburger buns in the freezer, and have been defrosting them a couple at a time, for the kids. I'm trying to have my protein over salad, which is better for me, & helps me eat more produce. 
• One of my 2023 goals is to set a monthly target for items I want to use up from our freezer or pantry. I chose part of a bag of frozen corn. I do not enjoy corn off the cob, so I'm not sure why I have this (a taco soup recipe, maybe)? I added a bit of it to fried rice. It will take at least a few versions of this to use up the rest of the bag, as too much ruins the fried rice for me. ;-) Slow, but steady progress!

For others

• I've been cleaning out a couple of closets (hall & coat) & given away a ton of stuff on Buy Nothing. I'm loving the improved organization, and it's nice to pass things along. The theme of this week was largely ski/winter stuff, which the kids have outgrown. Those are always very in demand, as they are expensive but necessary, and kids don't wear them long enough to create much wear before they outgrow them. 

That's it from my side. What about you? Any wins to share?

Workout Wednesday

I'm back to a normal routine & working hard to control my calories, which means tracking my eating more diligently than in the past few months. 

Workouts for the week:

• Monday - skiing
• Tuesday - skiing
• Wednesday - an hour of elliptical + a few (ski) runs with Sam
• Thursday - nothing, driving back 
• Friday - Orange Theory
• Saturday - Orange Theory
• Sunday - Orange Theory

Highlights - getting back to calorie tracking, doing a much better job of avoiding evening snacks. 

Lowlight - I've been pretty hungry, as my stomach adjusts to the changes, and recovers from the holidays. ;-) 

What about you? How are you doing with your health & fitness?

Menu Plan Monday

We're back in action, & meal planning again. Our vacation was lovely, but it's always nice to be home & cooking again. As we all know, eating out is incredibly expensive!

• Friday - grilled burgers (the only day it's not expected to rain)
• Saturday - beef tacos & guacamole
• Sunday - chicken curry & rice
• Monday - leftover tacos & guacamole
• Tuesday - burgers
• Wednesday - chicken curry & rice
• Thursday - pulled pork (freezer)
• Friday - TBD, or chicken alfredo (per Sam's request)

What's on your menu this week?

Sunday Happenings

I feel like tomorrow is lining up to be the Monday of all Mondays. Returning back from long breaks is hard. It's also a super busy time at work for me + M, the boys are kicking off school, Nick has school soccer, and Sam is starting his coaching job. It's a season of business, for sure. 

I'm trying to be productive today, so we'll see how that plays out for me:

• Go to workout class this am
• Call my parents, and/or make sure one of the kids calls
• Deal with Amazon return
• Make protein balls for Sam, per his request for a quick "pre gym" snack
• Make tacos for dinner
• Work on the schedule for the week
• Clean hall closet
• Order high school soccer gear for Nick
• Help Sam set up the app for his new job
• Laundry (always)
• Practice Duolingo for 30 minutes
• Meditate (trying to proactively set the tone for the week)

What about you? What are you up to today? 

December goals recap

 I'm a little late to the party, but better late than never. Here's how I did with my December goals. 

Financial:

• Stick to our budget, including for Christmas - we stuck to our budget, including Christmas! (Our ski trip was another story, but that's part of January's budget)
• Make $250, so I can complete our 2022 side hustle goal - close - I made $224
• Continue post work plan & budget - we made a lot of progress on our budget planning for the years ahead
• Go through ebay inventory - yes! Cleaned out a bunch, & donated a bunch. 
• Give away 10 things on Buy Nothing - I gave away probably 25 items (thermos x2, 2 tennis bags, clothing items, craft projects, shoes, etc)
• Use up 5 random freezer items - I used up: enchilada sauce, enchiladas, lasagna. & green onion pancakes). 

Family:

• One activity with the kids - we drove around & looked at Christmas lights
• Help Nick learn to drive - the driving continues!
• Two dates with M - yes! We had a lovely couple of nights in a hotel
• Connect with M's family - sent pictures & videos
• Continue with 2023 travel planning & finalize ski week plans - we are waiting for summer dates to be finalized, but we have a budget & our priorities in place. We're checking out both places while skiing, to make a final decision for ski week. 

Fitness/Health:

• Post weekly fitness summaries - done
• Match November's calories burned - I was about 1,000 calories short, which makes sense, given I missed two of Orange Theory workouts, given the studio was closed from an ice storm. 
• Close rings 28 days - I only closed them 20 days, and need more focus in January!
• Take advantage of workout classes - the workout classes I had planned over Christmas didn't work out, as the studio was closed due to an ice storm. Otherwise, all workouts happened as planned. 
• Meditate 5x - nope, and there were days I could have really used it!
• Lose 2 lbs - oh my, definitely no. January will need to be a fresh start, with a focus on bringing my calories back in check & reducing sweets & snacks. 

Personal:

• Do something social with friends - met friends for dinner
• Continue to volunteer - yes, done!
• More thinking on "post career" plans - I continue to think about this, but don't have any formal plans

What about you? How did you do with your December goals? Any wins to share?

The not so frugal Friday

Let's just say that we spent more than planned on our ski trip, due to the weather & switching to the hotel located in the resort area a day earlier than planned. That threw our budget *way* off for the trip, but I'm happy with the decision, given the weather & difficulty driving. 

Rather than my normal format, here's a more consolidated list of frugal wins, rare though they were this week. ;-)

• Stopped for gas at Costco on the way home, and bought lunch for everyone for under $6. 
• Brought snacks from home for much of the trip.
• We did manage to make breakfast & dinner at the condo 2x, using groceries we brought from home. I forgot foil & ground coffee, so we did pick that up at the store while we were there, but otherwise ate things we brought with us. 
• We bought season passes for skiing use a (small) corporate discount over the summer. We've already skied enough that the passes were less expensive than paying the day rate, and we plan to go again in February. 
• We mostly skipped lunch on the mountain each day (which is, crazy expensive), and just had a snack & an earlier dinner. 
• We took advantage of the free breakfast at the hotel, which was lovely & had pretty much everything you could want. 
• Despite really not feeling like cooking when we got home last night, found some grilled chicken in the freezer, along with my emergency meal stash of Trader Joes fried rice. I also had a bag of salad that we didn't eat, but stayed cold in the cooler. Quick & easy dinner, and much less expensive than takeout.

What about you? Any wins to share?

A quick check in - all of the snow

It's been a wild few days on our ski trip. The resort we're skiing at received their 24 hour historical record of snow (34") & 7" in an hour! On NYE, we were there for three hours before they closed, and we had to shovel the car out, as it had snowed 9" during that time. 

We made it back to the condo we were staying at, but only after a super dicey drive. We made the decision to move to the ski in/out hotel earlier than planned, because more snow was expected, and the drive was super dangerous & long from the condo. We woke up on the morning of the 1st, and the car was absolutely buried in snow. We couldn't get into the condo parking lot (too much snow, unplowed), so we carried all of our gear out & up a hill 1/4 of a mile. I've had more fun. ;-) But, we all worked together to get the car dug out, and the gear packed up. Switching from the condo to the hotel was pricey (we forfeited the night in the condo, and paid for an extra night at the hotel), but we have no regrets, as even more snow fell. It's been so nice to be at the hotel & not worry about driving. 

It's snowing again today, and expected to snow through our departure tomorrow. I'm at the hotel catching up on a bit of work today, but will likely join the boys for a few runs this afternoon, if the weather cooperates & the lift outside of our hotel continues to stay open. Despite all of the craziness, we've had so much fun together!

The end of my favorite run (I don't take photos on the run, but the entire thing is stunning):

And, ski buddies:

We drive home tomorrow, and I'll be back to regularly posting & commenting then. Hope everyone is staying warm & safe!

Menu Plan Monday

 The ski trip edition! Here's what we'll be eating this week, while we're in Lake Tahoe.

• Friday - drive day. Frozen pizza & salads when we get to the condo.
• Saturday - NYE! Steak, caesar salad & garlic bread. And, champagne, of course. I bought special "festive" drinks for the kids, as well.
• Sunday - Spaghetti & meatballs + garlic bread (both prepped in advance).
• Monday - We're switching to a hotel, as I need to work for some of the time. We'll be eating out.
• Tuesday - At the hotel. Eating out.
• Wednesday - At the hotel. Eating out.
• Thursday - Driving home from Tahoe, so something scrappy when we get home. Likely baked chicken & gyozos. 
• Friday - TBD, but I'm hoping for chicken curry & rice.

What about you? What's on your menu this week? 

January Goals

 It's a new year, with fresh new goals! Here's what I'm planning to get done this month.

Financial:

• Stick to our budget
• Use up 5 freezer items
• Save $500 for college
• Earn $200 in side hustle money
• Apply for status match on preferred airline

Family:

• Plan one fun activity with the kids
• Plan out college visits
• Help Nick with driving
• Have two dates with M
• Call + pictures for M's family
• Finalize ski week plans

Fitness/Health

• Lose 5 lbs (carryover holiday weight)
• Track calories, eat a balanced diet
• Close rings 30 days
• Make the most of fitness options
• Make doctor's appointment

Personal/creative

• Do something social with friends
• Invest time in my volunteer roles
• Practice French on Duolingo

 What about you? What are you hoping to accomplish in January?